The Emirates FA Cup has always run on the Magic of the Cup. It’s still the most iconic club competition in football, but 150 years of legacy is quietly losing its cultural cachet with Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who are drawn to newer competitions that feel more social and more current.
Using our proprietary data, NERDS identified and mapped the Football Culture Fan. For this young, diverse fan, football is still a way of life, but the way they connect to it has spread across far more touchpoints. The game’s currency is no longer set by clubs, leagues, federations and the old broadcasters. It’s set by players with real flair and by social-first football channels. The landscape online is fragmented and diverse, its energy charged through culture, not on the pitch.
We gave the Emirates FA Cup a cultural strategy rooted in style, reigniting the competition’s social standing through off-pitch collaborations and planting it at the heart of grassroots style culture. Emirates FA Cup Presents brought together the heritage of football’s most established competition with the design passions of the UK’s most exciting streetwear brands.
